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Chinese police: Man rams car into people, kills 6

The Associated Press

Updated:
04/28/2014 06:23:52 AM EDT

BEIJING (AP) — A man distressed by his divorce case intentionally rammed a car into electric scooters and pedestrians near a school in southeastern China on Monday, killing six people, including three children, according to police and state media.

Police subdued Lin Jianxin, 37, with a water gun when he threatened to set ablaze gasoline after his disabled vehicle halted in the village of Zhuangtou in the southeastern province of Fujian, the government-controlled Southeast Express said.

Fuzhou Police said in a written statement that the serial collisions killed six, including three children, and injured 13 others. Police said the man lost control emotionally because of marriage issues.

Southeast Express said a court heard Zheng's divorce case in the morning and that Zheng rammed into vehicles and pedestrians around noon during a school break.

China has seen a spate of incidents in recent years where men — upset with life issues such as lack of employment or marital problems — have lashed out indiscriminately at members of the public — in what has become known as acts of "revenging the society." They have sometimes targeted the more vulnerable, such as schoolchildren, resulting in tighter security in Chinese kindergartens and grade schools.

In February, a Chinese man suspicious of his wife's infidelity admitted to setting a fire aboard a bus that killed six people and injured 35 others in southwestern China.